If you needed an internship for this summer, your arrangements best be made quickly, as the ones posted are rapidly being snapped up. An internship can be the way to get a foot inside the door of a great company, whatever the season or stage of career development you’re in. If you’ve been waiting for the right internship to come to you, flip that and reverse it. You can find an internship in the industry you’ve been looking for with 1) a phone book 2) a telephone and 3) your resume. Most folks will jump at the chance to have someone to assist with basic data entry and some of the more minor points of their to-do list (read: totally unglamorous work, mostly). A carefully worded, polite cold-call to the HR department wherein you propose a brief time of service in exchange for training and a recommendation can yield great results. Head off a “No,” by asking if you can make a follow-up call a few days to a week later to see if they’ve had a chance to check with their folks to see who’s sitting around with too many loose ends.
How do I know this? I’m an internship junkie. It’s taken me awhile to settle into learning and writing solo as a career choice, so I’ve dipped my toe into many a water. I’ve enjoyed time as a biology lab assistant, researcher/collator for a couple of nonprofits, and a writer for not one but two publications. Most of these gigs were internships done for free, but don’t be afraid to propose a small stipend for your efforts, depending on how much time you’d like to put in. The worst they can say is “No,” and from there you’ll be able to decide whether it’s something you can do for free. If you’re already working 9-5 for bread money, ask if there’s any way you can telecommute.
With that negligible-to-nothing monetary backing in mind, here are a few guidelines, in order of importance, for executing the perfect internship.
1) Have a definite end date before you begin. Free labor is a very easy thing to get used to. As someone who’s done the interminable internship before, I can tell you that by month four, my work wasn’t very good anymore. Yeah, seems like a no-brainer, right? But faced with a tightening budget on one hand and a source of free labor on the other, my company chose to keep me around to do my light data housekeeping on a regular basis. I stuck around for way longer than I should have, holding my little torch for a job offer. And certainly, one could argue that I wasn’t hired on because they didn’t see my potential as a staffer—but really, all the more reason for me to have taken stock earlier! Ultimately, the frustration of doing free data entry and proofreading for months on end got to me. And whose fault was that? Bingo, your author herself. If I’d had a definite date in mind, my company and I would have had something to frame my efforts and probably send me packing with a smile. As it was, I left feeling a little exploited, kind of an ick factor for the young and bright eyed, but a good lesson nonetheless. I don’t exactly regret the quick email I shot off to announce my immediate departure once I’d had enough, but I wish I’d been a little more gracious. So don’t be like me; a smooth exit is your responsibility to clarify from the get-to. It isn’t rude, and it is professional. Always have your cut-off date in writing before you reach the point where your attitude atrophies. Which brings us to…
2) An internship should never be longer than three months. This isn’t med school. They’ll know enough about you to know whether to a) make you a permanent thing, b) send you off with a great recommendation, or c) send you off as quietly as possible, as your finest work with them was remembering that the CEO hates mustard on his Wednesday meeting hoagie. That last option isn’t so bad. Ask for some direct feedback about things you could have done better and put that internship down on your resume where it belongs.
3) Make friends with your boss. If you don’t get that job offer, be sure do you get that recommendation letter. Doing solid work may not be enough, especially if you’re stuck behind a cubicle. In the internship from #1, I did work emailed to me throughout the day and skimped on the human interaction. As a result, if I had someone call them today for a recommendation, they’d probably be a little fuzzy about who I was and what I did for them—even though I pulled a couple of all-nighters getting work completed. (Don’t worry—I got time and a half for it! Time and a half multiplied by $0.00.) And going out with your boss for a beer or two after your internship is finished is a great way to leave a good taste in their mouth.
But wait, what if your boss is a jerk? Or maybe the jerk is you. Either way, the time and effort you put into your work will be significantly dimmed by that crappy work rapport. If you do your best to establish yourself as a friendly ally to a prospective mentor and it’s all for naught, don’t stress. He’s just not that into you. Find another staffer who you do have an easy time socializing with and firm that burgeoning friendship. Chances are good that they’ll have a project down the line that you can assist with. This guy will be the person you end up using in your recommendation. Forget that other schmuck.
4) Choose an internship convenient to you. When I did my first internship at 16 at an Otolaryngology lab, I drove 40 miles everyday just doing the to and from. Luckily, my parents supported me with gas money, but nonetheless, I ran up quite a bill. This is especially important for internships that offer flexible hours, letting you decide when you’ll come in every day! If you have to two buses and a taxi to get to your internship, I guarantee your accumulated hours will suffer, especially when you’re surrounded by other, more immediate sources of fun or money. There will always be a distracting factor that will increase with every mile you have to go out of your way. This becomes writ large when you’re commuting as a full-time employee, even though you’re getting paid more.
